Where does the word 'crummy' come from?

Question

The descriptor 'crummy' to describe something shoddy or of poor quality is apparently restricted to the US. What are its origins? Where does it come from?

Answer 1

The American Heritage dictionary defines the word "crummy" as something miserable, wretched or shoddy. It comes from the root word crumb which is easily crumbled or that which is the fragment or last part or hindmost of something. It's of interest in literature of the 17th century English's Germany and French parentage that a caboose which is a car attached, usually at the end of a freight train, which was used as living quarters for the trains crew, was coined as a crummy. It has also been used insensitively such as: "What a crummy outfit they are wearing" whether it was of poor quality or not. I think the word has been overused at times to explain something from another's standpoint as something that "isn't that good" and has been accepted to mean not so much a wretched situation or thing but something which was less than expected. As can be seen in usage, some slang words have often changed over time and come to define something quite unlike what was originally intended to be understood.

Answer 2

Crummy Meaning

Answer 3

The origin is from 1855–60, believed to be related to "crum," an obscure Scots word for crooked.

A "crummie" is a Scots word for a cow with crooked horns.

Answer 4

it was very popular in the UK in the 1960s

I thought it was english slang